“I agree, we'll have to put personal objectives aside for a while I'm afraid, but in the end we could be in a very high position,” Collins nodded before looking to Meunez. “You'll have to be reassigned so you can watch another end of the company.”
“I'm so close to understanding what was done here, how Alice managed to make the transfer from artificial life to human. That, if anything, could be key to understanding the Eden Fleet, maybe finding a new way of communicating with them, of relating to them.”
“We've already explored that avenue and every simulation and field test tells us it's a dead end. We need you to gather information and conduct affairs elsewhere, especially if I'm about to lose the Overlord. If you want to try and track Alice physically you can do it from wherever you end up, just make sure you don't jeopardize your position or I'll put you back in your place personally.”
“I'm telling you she's the key!” Meunez shot back. “Somehow she managed to break through the barrier that separates software from wetware and you're not going to find out how by digging around in Valent's brain, you'll see it for yourself if you track down-”
“Alice, we've heard it before!” Collins finished for him. “All we have of her is a record of data transfer and security footage of her flopping out of a tube in a new body then being carried away by two known criminals of low education! She's probably already been sold into slavery and used to death in some back room somewhere! You'll follow orders and help us broker the sale of any worthwhile Vindyne properties to Regent Galactic so we can ride the tide into their good graces and end up in a position to take advantage of the information we have!”
“And save the Galaxy? You're telling me my goals are unrealistic while you're trying to save all of humanity?”
“I don't know about you but I want to continue living a life of privilege and power and that can't happen if the galaxy deteriorates into such a state that humanity can't even collectively count the days!” Collins shot back, breaking into a rare rage.
“He's right Gabriel. Not only that, but imagine the power we'd have if we were to become known as the saviors of humanity. Anything we covet would be ours. You could search after your hybrid queen all you like, even create one of your own with the resources you'd have. Tell me you're with us.”
Gabriel Meunez sighed and turned towards the blacked out window. “Only if I am free once we have made it into Regent Galactic's good graces. I still believe she's the key to uniting the machine and man mind. I must at least find out what became of her.”
“Done.”
That's where the instant recall stopped, not because the rest was uninteresting, but because it was all Lucius Wheeler needed to know. The enlightenment showed in his expression as he looked down at the grinning blond boy beside him. They had stopped at the main security doors leading into the core vault of the Saviour. “You can receive messages from the future?”
“Yes, Lucius. Until just a short while ago we had access to the Victory Machine through a West Watcher operative but he broke off communication so we had to unleash the Holocaust Virus. Only by setting that chain of events in motion were we able to bring Jacob Valent's original crew together on one world and keep them away from their alternate destiny while we gained control of the Victory Machine for ourselves.”
“So you've never seen the machine for yourself? How did your last body get irradiated?”
“We tried to make our own Victory Machine and it didn't work. Fortune smiled on us, however. Instead of causing the wormhole to collapse, drawing enough matter and energy inside to create a black hole or a new star we managed to dissipate it. Unfortunately I didn't make it out and the temporal radiation affected my body for years in each direction. Very confusing even after you look at it in an educated manner.”
“You're telling me.” Lucius Wheeler looked at the large vault door in front of him. The keypad had never been used, the chamber hadn't been opened since Collins placed the Eve mind inside himself. He did everything from setting up the storage and stasis equipment to transporting the delicate, vulnerable cargo and installing it into the storage unit personally. “How does this fit into your plans? Collins was terrified of Meunez getting near this. He was afraid that he'd try and commune with it, find a host body and somehow free Eve.”
“That's exactly what we're doing. The end of our civilization is still coming and even though we have control of the Eden Fleet we will not be able to maintain that forever. Our hopes are that Gabriel will be able to befriend the Eve Mind, to reintroduce her to her creations and that when she realizes that the end of humanity as well as the destruction of her solar system is only a couple of years away at best that she should join with us. That is one of the reasons why the Order of Eden was created, to give us a way to demonstrate our dedication as a race to coming together and overcome dissent. Regent Galactic is on the verge of joining us, they just learned that we're on the verge of taking the Victory Machine for ourselves, the Carthans had it so well hidden that Regent Galactic never knew it was there. Millions of their citizens join the West Keeper organization every day now even though the Holocaust Virus is less effective than ever with the mass deletion of artificial intelligences across the Galaxy.”
“So you've actually managed to accomplish most of your goals,” Lucius muttered.
“Yes, but the most important one has not been met; the salvation of our civilization. For that we believe we need to turn to Eve. Her fleet is the most powerful united force in the known universe.” The blonde haired boy sighed slowly and folded his hands in the sleeves of his robes, a posture that didn't fit his apparent youth.
Wheeler knew the boy was studying him, watching him as he stood and stared at the keypad that was ready for the thirty two digit alphanumeric code that would break the seal on the vault. There was no data network attached to the security system, only a detection grid for screening out Gabriel Meunez, a tiny computer that would recognize the password and the mechanism that could open the door. “I'm starting to understand who Collins was and why he kept you and Gabriel around. You're both mad in your own way, but with that madness comes genius,” he let the idea of Gabriel Meunez communing with Eve in a way that no one else could sit in his mind for a moment. It was frightening, the story he was being told was spectacular, but he had seen the evidence.
Collins spent years tracking agents deeply embedded in the Carthan government, gathering power of his own, developing the virus that would make the Eden Fleet controllable and considering the problem of that virus failing one day. All the while he helped Lister Hampon develop his Cash Messiah Cult, as he called it before it was finally named the Order of Eden. It promised everyone a place in paradise if only they worked hard enough, were faithful enough and got humanity through the hard times.
All the evidence he needed was in mind, but how it could all go wrong was starting to come into sharp focus as well. The possibilities of what would happen if Gabriel came in contact with the Eve Mind were all described vaguely. He knew from succinctly worded reports from the future that from one instant to the next the outcome of such an event changed like a roulette wheel that would forever spin until someone interceded and stopped it. That's why Collins never destroyed the Eve mind. He could have at any time but for two reports that mentioned disaster there was always one that pointed to the Eve mind being a large part of the solution. But why didn't any of them say that Collins would be killed? I can't find any memory of his that contains him receiving a warning from the future about his own death. Then again, why would anyone send one back for him? It's not like he had any friends out here. Lucius mused. The notion of dying suddenly and having no one to mourn him sent a chill up his spine, but his attention was drawn back to that big, heavy door in front of him.